1) Be a Good Twitter CitizenIf you have a primary ID, name or handle that you use for email or social networks, use the same one on Twitter so you’ll be easily recognized. And in your profile be sure to link back to your Web site, blog or socnet page so folks know who’s following them. The more context you can provide the better – especially if you’re like me and don’t update every single day.

2) Send Direct Messages FasterSending private messages directly from Twitter’s web interface can be a pain if you have to scroll through a long list of mutual followers. Pressing the first letter of the person’s ID while you are in the DM dropdown allows you to page through names quickly and easily. If you want to spam, er, DM a group of people at once, check out Twitter Groups. Just use it sparingly as we all know how it feels when to get too many group messages. For folks using Twitter via IM, there are even more helpful commands.

3) Twitter KarmaThe simplicity of Twitter’s interface can sometimes be its curse. To figure out who’s following whom, check out Twitter Karma. Twitter Karma makes it easy to see your overall follow status and add folks as desired.

5) Visualize, Data MineThere are a couple of ways to quickly visualize your Twitter information. Twitter Blocks allows you to visually navigate your Twitter community of friends and followers. Tweetstats is like Twitter CSI. In a few seconds, it makes it easy to assume that Robert Scoble probably used Twitter via the Web to send a note to Eric Rice early on a Sunday morning in November. Or does that read like the game Clue?

Much like Google, Twitter is always tinkering with its platform so be sure to follow their blog to keep up with the latest tweaks.

6) Fun with TwitterMost of these “twicks” are thanks to Twitter’s API. Some of them seem to be created purely for the (nerdy) fun of it. Twittertale and Tweetspeak are perfect examples of this. Then there’s the guilty pleasure of Twitter Confessions. Or check out Twitterholic and Tweeterboard to see if you know some folks that might need a Twittervention. Yep, two jokes in one hack. Not my first (or best) attempts at Twitter humor.

More productive fun can be had on Twitter, using it to hone your writing skills.

7) What Does Twitter Look Like?A Flickr search shows a ton results for Twitter and there is also a Twitter Group on the site. But Photophlow takes this a step further and mashes the two sites together.

8) Save the WorldTwitter has potential in helping people get targeted information at a point of need. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health uses Twitter to broadcast health messages (via Canuckflack).

A Reuters article points out that “these technologies all have a possible role to play in the aftermath of a natural disaster or human attack, when the danger is over, but not before. Why should anyone trust their lives and those of their families and friends, to systems which they cannot and do not trust even their credit card details to?”

9) Know the News. FirstYou can subscribe to plenty of news sources on Twitter, including Reuters,The New York Times,Google News and CNN Breaking News. Twitter tends to be an early warning system when it comes to breaking news and you’ll see many stories there before you will on mainstream sites. Reporters are seeing benefits to this.

10) Take Twitter with YouYou can push your Twitterstream to Facebook to replace your update and serve it up on your blog as well. This is good as folks are seeing Twitter cut into the volume of blog posts out there.

Twitter by the TonThere are a metric ton of good Twittertips,tools and hacks, with new ones being published almost daily. These are just a sample as folks see new uses for Twitter. If you’re on Twitter let me know what your favorite tip is and I’ll add some to this list.

02/09/2008

PR Tactics editor John Elsasser tapped me to write an article for their latest issue. At more than 800 words, it’s considered blasphemously long for a blog post. But I'm not sure if it’ll be posted online or not so I posted it below. Check out PR Tactics print edition if you prefer the more nostalgic approach to content consumption.

--------We spend countless hours choosing the best message, format and medium to reach our audiences when the most powerful communication device is the one we seem to use the least – storytelling.

Stories make our messages easier to remember and have been used throughout history to help explain concepts more effectively, according to “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink.

Starbucks is built on story. The ubiquitous barista was almost named Pequod Coffee Company after the boat in “Moby Dick.” Starbucks’ founders felt the name would evoke the romance of the high seas.

Thankfully naming consultants were quick to point out that consumers would not stand in line to drink a cup of Pequod. The owners instead settled on Starbuck, the first mate on the Pequod. And today there are more than 13,168 locations in 40 countries worldwide.

A Mix of Fact and EmotionIn "The Elements of Persuasion,"Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman define a story as “a fact, wrapped in an emotion that compels us to take an action that transforms our world.”

The use of fact and emotion in a story is critical – particularly in public relations. A message focusing just on emotion can be easily dismissed. At the same time, isolated facts are not remembered easily by an audience. In a world cluttered with messages competing for audience time and attention, stories and our messages require both elements to be effective.

What’s the Story?So how do you write a story? Whether it’s three sentences or three volumes in length, stories need to have a basic structure – a beginning, middle and end.

An Appetizing Beginning:Every story must quickly grab reader attention with an interesting hook. This whets their appetite and draws them into the story. And while some basic facts should be established, they should be chosen carefully to slowly reveal the story.

The Meaty Middle: Once the reader is engaged, serve up the story’s main course to keep them satisfied. Any initial problems established or assertions made will play out in full.

End with Dessert, Not Desert: Once a reader is engaged, don’t end the story without the best part. An ending brings resolution to the story. Good or bad the ending leaves the reader with distinct feelings and usually a call to action.

Starting with these basic elements, creativity is the only limit to how you tell your story. And there are some ways to help make storytelling second nature.

Learn by DoingTelling your own story is great practice for doing it on the job. StoryCorps is an organization that encourages you to tell your story. Considered to be the largest oral history project of its kind, StoryCorps transports sound booths across the country with the goal of recording people’s stories in an audio format. Some of the stories are rebroadcast on NPR and all of them wind up in the Library of Congress.

Stories (Don’t) Write ThemselvesImages, audio and video are easier than ever to create and can easily be added to a story to increase audience engagement. But be selective and creative about using these elements to enhance a story.

Before you give an executive some screen time or add a grip and grin photo of the company founder shaking hands with the CEO, ask the question – “does it improve the message?” If audio/visual elements don’t make a message easier to understand, and more memorable, they distract the audience. Even worse, you’re wasting everyone’s time.

Less is MoreWhile images, audio and video can enhance your story; an effective story relies on top-notch writing. Writing more frequently helps improve skills; writing with fewer words makes the end result more efficient and effective.

There are several unconventional online approaches to whittling down the word count. One Word posts one word each day and gives you 60 seconds to write about it. The photo sharing site Flickr is home to The Six Word Story Group where members submit photos with captions no longer than six words. The end result must tell a story.

Make a (Power) Point Anyone still skeptical about the power of storytelling in business should visit SlideShare. The site is YouTube for PowerPoint presentations and it serves up endless examples of good (and really bad) approaches to storytelling through the de facto software for business presentations. As an example, SlideShare has more than 400 presentations on storytelling alone and the site will inspire your use of PowerPoint.

Taking these steps will make storytelling second nature. And as we are continually challenged to gain the attention of time-starved audiences, this proven device will help us meet this challenge.

In the case of Starbucks, the story of its naming is part of the foundation on which the coffee company has built its success. Not bad for a cup of Pequod.

AP Expands Story Through Digital Tools: As a non-profit supplying newspapers with content, The AP is more focused on giving its newspaper clients multimedia content. This OJR story details how the AP’s multimedia strategy will extend its reach. The AP has established its crowd sourcing abilities through a partnership with World Now. This measured approach makes sense for their organization.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is one of Gannett’s biggest social media success stories with a percentage of local penetration that is second only to The Washington Post. Several social media elements of the Enquirer site help forge this strong, local connection.

GetPublished Yields Hyper-Local Coverage: GetPublished solicits user-submitted content at more than 230 neighborhood-centered "microsites." Much of this content is reverse published into neighborhood inserts distributed in the print edition.

Rather than call GetPublished’s more than 1,200 readers citizen journalists, Carroll considers it a crowd sourcing exercise. "Not everybody is treated as a reporter, but a lot of people have important things to say," she said.

CincyMoms Shows Word of Mouth Potency: Much of the conversation takes place on the Enquirer’smessage boards and blogs. However since launching CincyMoms in January, it's quickly become one of its most popular destinations with about 1 million page views a month and around-the-clock discussion.

”We’ve brought in experts to chat with the audience and the Moms ignore the experts,” said Callinan. The Moms trust their own personal experiences more than an outside source.

Blogs “Distract Staff,” Incite Readers: Callinan notes the Sports blogs see the most traffic, but sees them as a distraction to his staff. He also noted that heated comments and misinformation on the news site lead the Enquirer to disable the comment capability previously attached to each news story on the site. The blogs still accept comments to posts.

It's natural that Callinan prefers the larger, self-running sandbox on his site. But I almost did a spit take when he said, “it remains to be seen if blogs will become the CB radio of our decade.” I suspect this was more of a wish on his part than a prediction.

This comment from a vp immersed in social media at a print daily resembles the paradox in Gannett’s USA Today strategy. It has a social network to engage its readers as it creates a glossy companion vehicle to generate more ad dollars. Can old business formulas capture a new audience?

If USA Today is merely responding to an expressed advertiser need, it underscores how marketers also need to change their approach to these mediums.

05/17/2007

P&G’s Tremor applied its word of mouth prowess to drive consumers to key downtown Cincinnati events held during the holidays. As a member of Downtown Cincinnati, Inc.’s marketing committee, I was recently briefed on this pro bono project and its extremely positive results.

Without giving out the whole recipe to Tremor’s secret sauce, here’s a snapshot of this unique campaign that used a mix of tactics to sell a city.

Leverage the Network. Nearly 7,000 members of Tremor’s Vocalpoint live in the Cincinnati area and were targeted to participate in this project.

Conduct (a lot of) Research. Pre-surveys were conducted online to determine barriers to coming downtown. As a result, parking, safety and family-friendliness were singled out as negative misconceptions the campaign needed to address. Campaign impact was measured with a final survey gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback.

Campaign Hook. Keep in mind Tremor needed to get busy soccer moms to steer clear of the malls into potentially foreign territory. Much of downtown Cincinnati was undergoing various phases of construction to upgrade and expand the overall experience.

The campaign turned the challenge of changing negative perceptions into an opportunity. In Pursuit of Cincinnati was a quiz-style campaign serving up downtown facts, figures and event trivia. Participants were invited to make a game of learning about downtown holiday opportunities.

Online/Offline Support. The campaign was launched in an e-newsletter which pushed to the In Pursuit of Cincinnati web site. Both were designed to present the facts about downtown. The next online campaign phase was designed to be more event focused and to get the mothers talking about the events.

A direct mail effort supplied print materials to Mom that reinforced the trivia concept and included event itineraries and maps they could hand out to friends. These were reinforced with online reminders.

BIG Results. Traffic increased at each event, meeting or exceeding program goals. One reason why is that half of the members contacted in the program told four more people about the downtown events.Positive perceptions of downtown also increased among Vocalpoint Moms as it relates to family friendliness (+85%), safety (+40%) and ease of parking (+10%)

The numbers don’t lie. The main reason I’m serving this story up is that, far too often, marketers seem to want a silver bullet that will incite word of mouth. As Tremor shows, it usually takes a lot of the usual preparations for a good marketing campaign…a deep understanding of the target market that drive the right mix of tactics to reach the program’s goals. Ho ho ho.

04/03/2007

A fleeting rant thought for anyone trying to attract prospects online…never offer something as FREE unless it's a right-click away for anyone and everyone to download.

If you require registration to gain access to a document? It’s not free. If you have any. other. hoop. a visitor must jump though to gain access? It’s not free.

Registration and related hoopla requires time and attention. Prospects trust you in the assumption that they’re in an exchange for an article, white paper or a research summary with charts and graphs that is useful or interesting.

Perhaps the bigger problem is that most folks assume a document that’s been formatted by a graphic designer and turned into a pdf will be useful or interesting—then they actually read it.

03/27/2007

UPDATE: AdAge tells us that sweeping changes are being made to the site to try and reverse a downward spiral in traffic. It looks like the unique registration challenge A-B faces will be the site's demise.----Anheuser-Busch is helping prove that content, all by itself, may not be the king of online.

A-B is pumping $30 million into Bud.TV, its branded digital entertainment network. Despite original programming from Kevin Spacey and Vince Vaughn, as well as a mix of comedy, reality TV and sports, Bud.TV is falling short of its goal of 2-to-3 million monthly visits. The media are quick to point out why Bud.TV is going flat.

Registration is the site’s Achilles heel. It’s required by law, but is a pain and it walls off the site. This could get worse before it gets better as several states have petitioned A-B to make registration even tougher.

But before we put Bud.TV on, er, ice, let’s consider some ways they can still get their drink on.

Content: A-B decided not to play with the YouTube’s of the world. So you won’t find their content on other sites. OK, separation anxiety...we get that a lot in corporate America when it comes to ceding control of the message. create shorter spots to promote Bud.TV on these sites. You can’t deny their ability to quickly match good content with a broad audience.

Extensions: Bud needs to pour out pint-sized versions of Bud.TV to reach its audience online. They should create a Bud.TV widget I can add to my site highlighting the latest programs and telling visitors the shows are always on at Bud.TV (play off the concept of Happy Hours instead of Prime Time).

The site notes it’s developing a “Desktop Bud.TV.” What’s it modeled after, Pointcast? It might as well be as they’re creating a proprietary video player you can download to play Bud.TV spots on your computer. Why not give visitors the ability to send content to a standard media player as well as mobile phones and iPods? Requiring software to watch the content gives viewers one more reason not to watch it at all.

Promotion: A-B launched Bud.TV during the Super Bowl to get awareness, but shied away from online promotion. So they want awareness, but not registered viewers? You cannot expect You-Tube sized growth from a Super Bowl commercial. Little online promotion takes place. Paid search is not even under consideration at this time according to MediaPost. Wtf?! If that’s not wrong, it’s arrogant. Bud.TV needs to get the word out at other sites catering to their younger, male demographic.

Get a (Blue’s) Clue about Interface Design: I’m not a designer, I’m a user. But I think you’ll agree the Bud.TV interface could be better. It might be visually pleasing, but it's too spread out with a viewing screen that's too small, even when you zoom.

My kids love watching video online at Nick Jr’s web site. Not only does it do a better job of serving up content, you can increase screen size and go back and forth between the two quickly and easily. Yes, it’s ironic that a kid’s site is a good model for BudTV. But younger audiences are used to smaller screens and have more opportunities to tune in to online content.

There’s also plenty of mainstream media Bud.TV can emulate to create a successful space online. MTV,CNN,CBS and The New York Times have all learned from their audiences and evolved their sites.

Bud.TV’s interface should be a non-issue and its content should be easier to share so it can help spread the word to other viewers. The content may be funny and cool, but without connectivity, it doesn’t matter.

MediaPost also notes “Anheuser-Busch is in the process of bolstering Bud.TV with new features and a more aggressive marketing campaign.” They already let you send a link from a video to a friend. Well, it’s a start.

What are the Odds?$30 million is a lot of beer money no matter who’s throwing the party—about 1,875,000 cases or >burp< 45 million cans. Bud.TV is taking a risk. But we all recommend taking risks to do meaningful, successful marketing. Hopefully A-B changes the site in time to make Bud.TV a success.

03/13/2007

Then I realized my angst has nothing to do with Twitter. Thousands of geeks texting random thoughts and keeping us up on their mundane status probably has value. I’m the first to admit I’ve been wrong about these things before.

But Freud would have a field day with this phenomenon. Boys, step away from the keyboard, put down the key pad once and awhile. Give the little guy a rest (your thumb that is).

No, it’s not Twitter bugging me. It’s the effusive glee that’s annoying me as blog post upon blog post fills my RSS reader with accounts of grown men being reduced to giddy/clubby school children. These are bloggers I subscribe to and read regularly…folks I (still) respect.

That said, I wondered how fast the Twitter buzz is spreading. I only read a fraction of the feeds out there. Technorati and BlogPulse helped me put it all in context.

Twitter has ramped up quickly as part of the conversation. But comparatively this specific conversation is taking place in a tighter circle than we I realize.

Phew. OK, so It’s early and I simply have the “Look! Shiny! Blues.”

For a second there I thought I was going to have to sell my house and start worshipping Evan Williams full-time.

03/02/2007

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is concerned his ubiquitous brand might be straying from its roots. To Schultz’ credit, he’s asking the question before Starbucks pulls a Gap, er, loses its way.

Consider the challenge of getting 13,000 locations around the world to create a connection with its customers while efficiently and cost-effectively serving up the brand. Oh, and selling coffee too.

Former Starbucks marketer John Moore asks "What Must Starbucks Do?” He’s compiling reader-submitted answers into a pdf book. Here is an expanded version of my response to Moore's question.

At the heart of successful brands like Starbucks is usually a story. So how can Starbucks tell one story 13,000 times?

Leave the Brew AloneSchultz is worried his stores don’t smell like coffee anymore. Good. Smell is one of the more powerful ways to differentiate a brand (scent or odor for that matter). Over the long term, Starbucks needs to weigh any changes to its brew very carefully and worry less about add-on merchandise.

Redefine the Store ExperienceThere are many opportunities to redefine the store experience that aren’t as permanent or as costly as 13,000 new store layouts or 13,000 new interior makeovers. For example, look at how Starbucks transformed its stores to promote Akeelah and the Bee. Or check out how Anthropologie employees use simple elements to transform their stores through visual merchandising. It can be done.

Retell the StoryWhile pop-up retail gets all the attention, more locations are not the answer to this problem. A fleet of mobile marketing vans can help bring "Starbucks Theatre" to a strategic mix of locations. These vans will be staffed by the same passionate people that get Starbucks high marks in customer service. What will they do? Entertain, engage, hand out free stuff and surprise customers. It will all serve as a reminder of why they like Starbucks.

Give Up the BrandEverything from Starbucks seems tightly-controlled and edited. ”The Way I See It” is an example. Regional "The Way I See It" competitions would be a cost-effective way for Starbucks to get local quotes onto its cups.

13,000 is a mind-boggling number of stores. But take the average number of customers in one day and multiply it by 13,000. Starbucks needs to let its customers express the Starbucks brand. This involves somerisk. But just think of the stories customers can tell to help reinforce this iconic brand.

Howard Schultz is asking the right question, he just needs to ask more people—and then listen.